Faux Rock Construction

When you’re in a rush to get goodies made for the local bake sale, PTA meeting, fundraising event, family or friendly party, or just trying to fulfill your desperate need for sweets right that minute, it’s hard to decide what to make and whether you can make it fast enough.

Too many people take the route of cookies in these situations, thinking they can make 6 dozen cookies in an hour—they usually end up burning every other (or every single) batch or none of the cookies finish cooking and the guests are left with a gooey mess.

Others choose fudge, which, if made improperly, or too quickly, will be crumbly or runny, and you can’t eat fudge (and you certainly can’t sell it) if it’s either of those.

Others still choose no-bake treats like gelatins, gelatin cheesecakes and certain types of no-bake cookies. But unless there’s a refrigerator and a lot of time to cool, these treats won’t set up properly and you’ll be left in the same situation as fudge and cookies that aren’t made properly.

When you’re in a rush you should try to choose a treat that’s light and airy and will continue cooking once you pull it out of the oven.

But what kinds of treats actually fit those criteria? The best and easiest treat in this category is cake.

If you’re trying to go to a party or a bake sale and you don’t have a lot of time, you probably don’t want to get stuck making a full-size sheet cake or a layered cake.

Why, you ask?

Full-size sheet or layered cakes have the unique problem of taking an extremely long time to cool down. You never want to ice a cake while it’s hot because the frosting will melt, making a huge mess, and you probably won’t be able to cover the whole cake without holes—since cakes tend to make a slight incline towards the center, hot, runny frosting would slide down the cake to the edges and run off the sides, leaving the middle bare.

The other problem is that even if you can get the frosting to sit still on a hot cake long enough to set, it will become hard, and as everyone knows, unless you’re using fondant or Royal Icing to make your cake, you don’t want the frosting to come out in a hard shell. You want it to be soft and creamy.

So, what’s the solution? Cupcakes are the solution.

Not only are cupcakes quick to make, like a regular cake, they are smaller. But what’s the advantage of that?

Since cupcakes are smaller than a sheet cake they can be put into individual cupcake papers that can be chosen to match the occasion—you can choose different colors and patterns and even different thicknesses, paper types, etc. You can even choose to use edible cupcake papers if you want to go to the extra expense.

Because cupcakes are smaller they cool more quickly than a large sheet cake or layer cake. And since you will be baking your cupcakes in batches, you have more time to decorate. While one batch of cupcakes is baking you can be adding your cup cake decorations to a batch that has already cooled. Additionally, you won’t have to worry about your cupcake frosting melting on hot cupcakes.

Cupcakes are also made individually, so there’s no need to cut the cake and deal with the mess. If you’re working a bake sale, this is especially helpful because you don’t have to worry about touching the piece of cake or having to provide plates or forks.

The other interesting thing about cupcakes in rushed situations is that you don’t have to come up with all of the cupcake decorating ideas or do all of the decorating yourself. You can depend on the people at the party, bake sale, fundraiser or other event to decorate their cupcakes themselves.

At a bake sale or fundraiser you can turn the decorating process into another way to raise money. You can bake the cupcakes and drive to the event while letting the cupcakes cool, so you arrive with fresh, moist cupcakes that everyone will want to buy. And you can bring the icing and cupcake decorations with you and let the adults and kids do it themselves! All you’ll have to do is provide some cupcake decorating ideas, like how to make certain animals—frogs, tigers, butterflies, sheep, koala bears, pigs, etc.—and everyone will be having a blast in no time!

The best part of doing a party or other event where you have cupcakes for decorating is that you can turn it into a party activity or a competition for a fundraising prize. Some fundraisers are based completely on these types of competitions—and each person involved is responsible for one portion, so you might only have to worry about bringing cupcakes or the cupcake icing. You might even get lucky and be the one to come up with the cupcake decorating ideas for the event, giving you and your creativity a chance to really shine.

The other issue that comes up at fundraisers, parties and bake sales is safety. When you’re focused on parties and fundraisers and you’re in a rush just remember that safety should always come first. You can choose the cookie recipes, but choosing to make cupcakes that can be free of ingredients like eggs (which can be harmful if not fully cooked) is always the best way to go.

And don’t forget, that the optimal idea is not to rush at all. Cupcakes are one of the easiest treats to make—they cook and cool quickly and can be easy and fun to decorate; cupcakes also keep much better than other treats because you have a cool, dry place to store them away from the elements: your refrigerator. So even if you only have a little time every day leading up to the event, use it for cupcakes’ sake.

Tags: cupcake decorating ideas | cup cake decorations | cup cake decorations | cupcake frosting | cupcake frosting | cupcake papers | cupcakes

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